Cal basketball: Ben Braun on the Bears’ title, his recruits and Mike Montgomery

As Cal’s seniors celebrated the school’s first conference title in 50 years, the coach who recruited them was in El Paso, preparing his last-place team for what would be another loss.

But Ben Braun was well aware of what transpired in Berkeley.

“I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished and glad to have been part of their growth,’’ said Braun, who’s in his second year rebuilding the Rice program. “It’s rewarding to see the guys get healthy and mature. I always felt it was a team that could win a championship one day.’’

Braun, who won 219 games in 12 years at Cal, follows the Bears as closely as his schedule allows. He said he keeps in contact with fans and players, including starter Theo Robertson, and sent Coach Mike Montgomery a congratulatory note.

“The team plays with a lot of confidence,’’ Braun said. “Mike has allowed the upperclassmen to play with freedom within the structure, which is what you should do with upperclassmen. We had those guys in their formative years.’’

Braun recruited Robertson, Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher and took Jamal Boykin as a transfer from Duke. He was dismissed in March 2008, following their sophomore season.

Asked if he’s frustrated he didn’t get the chance to coach Randle and Co. as upperclassmen, Braun said:

“I’m past that. People ask all the time, ‘How do you feel?’ And I tell them that I’m happy for the players and the coaches and the Cal fans, the alumni that have supported the team and supported me through the early years.’’

Braun said he uses the Bears as an example for the young players at Rice, which is 8-20 with a roster dominated by freshmen and sophomores.

“I said, ‘Have you guys followed what Cal has done? Well, those guys struggled a little as freshmen, too. You have to go through the growth process.’’’

Caught up with Ben Braun on Monday night. I was interested in his thoughts on Cal’s Pac-10 title and he was nice enough to give me a few minutes.

Braun, of course, is responsible for bringing the four seniors (Jerome Randle, Theo Robertson, Patrick Christopher and Jamal Boykin) to Berkeley.

In his second year rebuilding the Rice program, Braun watches the Bears when his schedule permits and keeps in touch with certain fans/boosters and players, including Robertson.

He told me that he’d just sent off a congratulatory note to Mike Montgomery, which didn’t surprise me — I wouldn’t say they’re pals, but they certainly had a cordial relationship when Braun was at Cal and Montgomery at Stanford.

Here are the highlights.

* On how he feels about Cal’s title: “I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished and glad to have been part of their growth. It’s rewarding to see the guys get healthy and mature. I always felt it was a team that could win a championship one day.’’

* On how the Bears look from afar: “The team plays with a lot of confidence. Mike has allowed the upperclassmen to play with freedom within the structure, which is what you should do with upperclassmen. We had those guys in their formative years.’’

* One whether he thinks, “That should be my Pac-10 title.”: “I’m past that. People ask all the time, ‘How do you feel?’ And I tell them that I’m happy for the players and the coaches and the Cal fans, the alumni that have supported the team and supported me through the early years.’’

* On whether he ever thought Randle would become a Pac-10 Player of the Year favorite: “He was as good as Earl Boykins coming out of high school, very quick with a great shot. In time, I felt he’d be an excellent player. And I think he has a chance to play at the next level.”

* On Robertson overcoming his injuries: “I talked to Theo. We’ve stayed in touch. I mentioned to him how happy I was for him with all the injuries he’s been through — to be able to bounce back like that. We redshirted him my final year and boy, did he come back strong. He’s kind of the glue for them. He defends hard every night.”

* On using Cal as an example for his young Rice team, which is largely freshmen and sophomores: “I said, ‘Have you guys followed what Cal has done? Well, those guys struggled a little as freshmen, too. You have to go through the growth process.’’’

* On Rice, which is 8-20 overall and 1-13 in C-USA: “It’s quite a rebuilding process, but we have high-character kids. Our two leading scorers are freshmen. You just have to continue to build. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of building a program.”

Are those “Ben is horrible at Rice, so he could not possibly have done what Monty has” arguments going to keep coming after seeing his Rice squad is all freshman and sophmores? Give that argument 2 years to develope.

Ben had injuriy setbacks or early entries from key players so often. I still wonder what could have happened if Powe had not missed a year (leaving early was always in the cards for him). A cliche, but true – if it were not for bad luck, he had no luck at all – a true Golden Bear.

Clunky

His young Rice squad would have a chance if Monty took over his team for their last 2 years.

BlakeStreetBear

Ben Braun was a terribly mediocre coach when he was at Cal. How many games, wether home or away, did his teams lose like 63-59, or 67-62? And how many games did his teams win like 63-59 or 67-62? In other words, when they lost it was boring and not very fun to watch, obviously. And when they won it was usually boring too and more often than not vastly inferior opponents would hang around in games way longer than they should have. 8-20 is about right for a small-talent coach with a bunch of youngsters on the squad. Good luck Rice, you’ll need it with BB at the helm. BB=fraud. Sorry, its true.

Kevin

Best of luck to Ben Braun at Rice. I wish him all the success in the world.

StanTheMan

Randle will probably win POY but to me that’s more of a sign of the dearth of talent in the conference than anything else.

He will be the primary reason the Weenies a) don’t win the Pac10 tournament, and b) don’t get out of the first round of the NCAAs if they even make it.

The guy is a choker. All it will take is a strong mid-major with good guards to shut him down.

too short

Uh, Randle is not the *choker* on that squad.

milo

Ben Braun is a good guy, a great recruiter and a good but not great coach. The fact of the matter is, he was hired on at Cal to clean up the Bozeman mess. The need at the time was to be upfront, no funny business and win, which he did. There was great promise and I was a season ticket holder for a couple of the Joe Shipp, Brian Wethers years but then things slowly slipped away. My take is Ben just got too comfortable at Cal and in the Bay Area.

milo

p.s. SOUR GRAPES Stanley sour grapes.

p.p.s. yes…CALIFORNIA HAS THE AXE!

Papa John

Obviously, as a Stanford fan, I was sorry to see Ben Braun go. I wish him well, but it’s a bit hard to imagine him turning things around at Rice when he had ample opportunity to do so at Cal.

A_teacher_and_a_former_athlete

@4 –
Let it go, man.

What does it tell you about a person that spits bile at a coach who left 2 years ago? Mike Montgomery is a great college coach, but warrior fans might call him a fraud as well.

grow up.

bearclause

The way Randle has been shut down this season has been to have officials who allow a lot of Big East style contact. The game in Seattle was a prime example of that. I don’t know how many refs will hold that level of contact as the standard. I’ve heard that refs have been rated for NCAA Tournament work, and the NCAA has downgraded refs for either allowing that level of contact or for calling way too many ticky-tack fouls.

I don’t see Randle’s 7 points against ASU as a problem. He ran the offense effectively (even if he wasn’t a scoring machine) and even managed to play excellent defense. With the rest of the team operating efficiently, I don’t think it matters.

MountainJim

Randle was hurt for the game in Seattle. It wasn’t just the officiating, his knee was limiting him a lot.

As for Stan who wishes he were a man, scoreboard you classless jerk.

206 Cardinal

Randle has a *ton* of heart, and would deserve a POY if he gets it. Totally agree with bearclause’s post about when he struggles (games where officials let a lot of contact go). He’s not a perfect player without weaknesses, but calling him a “choker” is ridiculous. He’s a team guy who will run your offense but can also step up and be the man at the end of the game when you need him. What more could you want from your PG?

Leftcoast

I didn’t like Randle’s game his first two years and thought he played out of control to the detriment of his team. There was a lot of “street” in his game. I worried that he would not be a good fit within Montgomery’s system and saw the potential for a classic coach/player conflict.

None of that materialized. Randle showed a lot of growth in his final two seasons and is a deserving POY candidate. He played in control, made his teammates better and still had the freedome to create when necessary. That this worked is a credit to both his adaptability and Montgomery’s. Kudos to both of them.

I still hope our guy gets it.

milo

I’m looking forward to ‘Rome in the big dance. His game rises up on national TV. He’ll be motivated, he’ll help his team in any way he can and he can help himself to the next level. I also love seeing him drop the 3-ball from way downtown. Two steps past half court and bang, bang, bang.

AKBear

Surprised that there has been no mention about the irony in the newly crowned Pac-10 champs showing up on the Farm being led by arguably the best coach in Stanford men’s basketball history.

StanTheMan

@bearclause, do you think refs in the NCAA are going to call ticky-tack like the jackasses we have? Randle is going to get hand-checked, bumped, picked, etc for all of the one game his team might play in the NCAAs.

All it’s going to take is a matchup against a good mid-major team. Those teams typically have very strong, experienced guards. Randle will be shut down and the Weenies will as well.

calbear03

@StanTheMan = moron
don’t know for sure, but I think you’re from that junior university down south…doesn’t matter what you say, brother…we got your coach, pac-10 champ and the axe…go away scum-bag

NicNak

StanTheClown, who is your basketball team?

Only an immature clueless moron would refer to the conference champs, who own his team’s punk a$s as a “weenie.”

So if the conference champions and owners of the axe are “weenies” what are you???

Randle is a “choker,” after WINNING the game and the conference??
F!%k off loser..

So not only are you a loser piece of $h!t… your a classless idiot as well.. Way to represent your school.

Jealous, sore loser, dip$h!ts..

Truest & Bluest

With Ben Braun’s teams, there’s always one excuse or another, like “we were young” or “we had injuries”. The “next year” always had greater promise, but never delivered. Looks like more of the same at Rice.

StanTheMan

Off your meds Nik?

No clue that Stanford fans have been calling Cal “Weenies” for decades. Probably means you weren’t even smart enough to get in.

Yes Randle is a choker. He isn’t consistent, he has vanished more than once this season, and the same is true last season. He has a particular tendancy to crumble when he gets contact and pressure, and that’s exactly what will happen in the NCAAs.

And I’m not jealous in the least. You guys have the upper hand this year no doubt, but when hoops season is over let’s compare the hype to the result:
- Football: Weenies preseason top 10, finished in the middle of the Pac. Yes you got the axe but it could be argued that was your ONLY quality win of the season.
- Basketball: Picked to win the conference. You should be celebrting that your team actually MET expectations for the first time in who knows when. However, the conference is the weakest its been in 20 years maybe more, and your PG who vanishes and can’t handle real pressure is likely POY. Congrats on being the best of the worst, and enjoy your team’s Thursday/Friday game in the NCAAs if you’re lucky enough to make it.

Stan: let’s let them have their (minor) moment. We’ll get that axe back.

Yes, Cal will surely get bounced in the second round – not because Randle is a choker, but because neither Cal nor anyone else in the Pac-10 was very good this year (they’ll face a 1, 2, or at best 3 seed).
a
It’s definitely true that Pac-10 refs call have called games too tightly for years — to the detriment of the league, whose teams have had to adjust to more loosely-officiated tourney games on the fly.

StanTheMan

Isn’t that a mid-major moment 206?

milo

Man Stanfurd you mothers talk a mean, bad ass, no-holds-barred game of smack talk, especially considering you guys are done on Saturday…unless of course there’s a sub-CBI tourney.

p.s. Don’t look now but Oregon and WSU are creeping up on you lads and 7th might not be safe. You guys might actually meet expectations. I think the Mr. Bill said it best, “Ooooooooooh nooooooooooo!”

StanTheMan

Expectations were dead last dumba$$. Stanford was a near-unanimous pick for 10th and the talk was we’d be lucky to win 4 or 5 conference games.

milo

Hey Stan, there’s still a chance for Furd to reach expectations.

StanTheMan

Glad to see you’re as smart at math as you are at sports, milo.

Oregon and WSU are tied for last, one game behind Stanford. They play each other in their last conference game, which means that there will be one Pac-10 team with only six wins. Since Stanford has seven wins, they cannot finish in last place.

Avis Tedfurd!

BearBoneZ

I find the tag “weenie” as applied to Cal by the Junior University most amusing. It arises out of projection (“if we call them weenies, then they can’t call us weenies, even though we know we are…) and jealousy. Note that Cal has no corresponding pejorative they attach to Stanford, probably because we simply don’t think about them all that much. These days they are pretty much an afterthought, underserving of any attention at all. They’re like the last kid chosen in the playground pickup game. Ooohhh, pick me, pick me…. Ohhh PLEEZE pick ME! They wish they could play with the big boys but they know they can’t complete (Rugby, anyone?)

Weenies?

I’m sure.

Mike

@26 BearBoneZ:

Spot on: what kind of junior (college) university has to put its rival’s name in the 800-number to its ticket office? The kind that obsesses with jealousy over its rival.

Meanwhile…what/who were we discussing? Oh yeah, that junior college afterthought.

BTW: Braun is a stand-up kinda guy: hmm…and so is Monty. Great stuff for our BB team.

Truth be told though, Rice faculty would prefer that their student-athletes would drop the “athlete”. It’s a tough place to be a coach or an athlete.